Tuesday, February 22, 2011

The Backyard

Our backyard has been in a sad state since the day we moved in. In our first year in this home, JP put in tons of work: cutting down Texas-sized weeds, clearing out years of piled-on dead leaves, and hacking down half-dead bushes that were clinging to the last remnants of life.

There was much chaos and destruction a la Casa Morganfield. We did eventually get the backyard to a state where we could feel (semi)comfortable with Little E playing there. With shoes on. The back yard has never been a place where I've wanted to spend even the smallest amount of time, but at least it was no longer a trash heap.

Enter Tom, an amazing handyman, who has helped us on a bunch of small projects around the house. He's replaced our sink, caulked windows, and given us loads of great advice over the last year. So when it came time to focus on the back yard, he was the first person I called.

Let's start with a picture of our dream fence:

I really love the horizontal cap along the top -- it leaves a really clean line with just a touch of modernism.

I also really like the stain they used. I'll be at Lowe's over the next few days picking out stains, so if any of you have ideas, please let me know.

And here is where our yard was a year ago when a "trash tree" fell down (thankfully, no one and nothing was hurt):

And here is our yard today:

Ok, so we've got quite a ways to go, I'll grant you that. But, all in all, we're making progress. I'll definitely keep you posted as the fence progresses.

We've also decided that we're going to follow a water-conserving landscape template from the City of Austin's website. It's not only good for the environment, but it means that I'm less likely to kill it. Win win! However, we're not supposed to plant until the fall, so that plan is temporarily on hold.